Montréal, 16 March 2018 - The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has reappointed Dr. Fang Liu of China by acclamation today as Secretary General of the UN Specialized Agency for a second three-year term, beginning 1 August 2018.

“It is my great honour to accept this re-appointment and to continue to drive the transformational changes I have begun across ICAO and its Regional Offices in order to make this a more streamlined and efficient UN specialized agency leading such a dynamic sector,” Dr. Liu commented.

Dr. Liu was first appointed to the position on 1 August 2015, becoming the first female Secretary General for the UN specialized agency’s Secretariat.

“Over the past nearly three years, ICAO has made strides to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the standard-making process. We have seen an overall increase of Effective Implementation for safety and for security,” Dr. Liu noted in her acceptance remarks. “We have engaged in promoting the role of aviation and demonstrating how air transport systems contribute to the achievement of the UN SDGs. We have worked very hard to optimize ICAO’s operations and to reinforce the Organization’s implementation support to States, by strengthening the regional presence, enhancing coordination and partnerships, and streamlining technical assistance, cooperation and training.”

“Looking forward,” Dr. Liu remarked, “our foremost challenge is the unprecedented traffic growth along with the rapid advancements in aviation technologies. Our principal standard-making function will need to keep pace with these changes. Meanwhile, the time has come to consider a strengthened role for ICAO in implementation support.” She elaborated on a wide range of further aviation safety, security, efficiency and sustainability objectives for the UN agency.

Highlighting further effectiveness and efficiency, she is determined to streamline the structure and activities of the Organization to optimize resources and seek achievements through innovation, automation, simplification and modernization. “My team and I are committed to the organizational culture shift to support this transformation,” Dr. Liu concluded. Secretary General Liu’s career in civil aviation spans more than 30 years. Prior to her election as ICAO Secretary General, she served as Director of ICAO’s Bureau of Administration and Services for seven years. This followed her tenure of over 20 years with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).